Government urged to rethink growth plan for industrial poultry farming

Sustain has joined more than 20 organsations including The Wildlife Trusts, RSPCA, and Soil Association to urge Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle to ensure the Poultry Sector Growth Plan supports profitable farming while reducing pollution, improving animal welfare, and helping farmers transition towards more resilient and agroecological systems.

The joint letter, also signed by Sustain alliance members Nature Friendly Farming Network and Pasture for Life, calls on the Government to publish the evidence demonstrating the need for further poultry expansion and assess the implications for environmental targets. The organisations argue that the Government should instead use this as an opportunity to develop a ‘Regenerative Poultry Sector Growth Plan’ that supports profitable farming and a transition towards agroecological poultry systems, helping to restore nature, improve water quality, reduce air pollution, and strengthen long-term food security.

The call comes amid concerns that proposals to expand poultry production could encourage further growth in highly intensive poultry units, despite the environmental pressures already associated with concentrated poultry production in some parts of England.

In the River Wye, significant nutrient pollution catchment has drawn attention to the environmental impacts when large numbers of poultry units become concentrated in one area. Local campaigners claim excess nutrients from the rapid expansion of industrial chicken farming have caused algae, fungus and weed growth that has suffocated the ecosystem.

A chance to transform poultry production

Sustain believes the Poultry Sector Growth Plan represents an important opportunity to shape the future of poultry farming in a way that benefits farmers, nature and communities.

Agroecological poultry systems can support higher standards of animal welfare, integrate poultry more effectively into mixed farming systems, and reduce reliance on costly imported feed and fertiliser.

Alys Bannister, Sustainable Farming Campaign Manager said:

"The Poultry Sector Growth Plan should be a significant moment to reset the way we farm, rather than increasing production at any cost.

Through this plan, we should support the sector to transition away from high-input systems that worsen pollution and depend heavily on imported feed and support resilient farming that strengthens food security, improves animal welfare, and delivers for farmers, rural communities and the environment."

Further expansion risks locking farmers into high-capital, high-input production systems that depend heavily on imported feed and concentrate environmental pressures in already vulnerable catchments.

James Wallace, Chief Executive of River Action, said:

“The Government cannot claim to be delivering a farming revolution while doubling down on a model of industrial poultry production that is already putting enormous pressure on our rivers, water resources, farmers and rural communities.

We are asking the Environment Secretary a simple question: where is the evidence that England needs more industrial chicken? Before the Government endorses further growth, it must confront the environmental costs of the industry, uncertainty around existing poultry capacity, and the huge quantity of waste that will need to be dealt with when poultry litter incineration subsidies end.

There is a better way. We can support profitable poultry farming that works with nature, improves animal welfare, strengthens local food systems and helps restore our rivers.”

What is Sustain doing to tackle this issue?

Sustain is committed to accelerating the UK’s transition to agroecological farming, growing, and land use while reducing the most damaging methods of food production.

Previously, we have played an instrumental role in a landmark planning decision in Norfolk that led to the precedent of a UK local authority rejecting planning permission for a new intensive livestock mega-farm on climate grounds.

At the same time, Sustain is advocating for organic and agroecological horticulture to become a key growth sector of the UK farming industry to support food security, environmental outcomes, and public health.

As part of this, Sustain is advising the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the organic and agroecological workstream of the Horticulture Sector Growth Plan.  While the Government has recognised the potential to grow organic and agroecological production in horticulture, Sustain believes the Poultry Sector Growth Plan should show the same ambition to change how food is produced, investing in the environment on which farming depends and creating conditions that genuinely support farmer livelihoods.